From that came the 10-song record 'Bread and Circus,' released on the tiny Abe's Records label, which eventually reached Los Angeles through absolutely no effort on the band's part. Their dream was simply to be a big Santa Barbara bar band.Д«ut when they sang backup for a local singer who was cutting a record, Toad was paid in studio time. They played cover songs at friend's parties, eventually working their way up to a now defunct club, The Shack, where they experimented with original material.

While they entertained vague notions of escaping their mundane lives (the dream of every white suburban youth in America), they had no idea that their extracurricular activity would actually be their ticket. Lyricist/guitarist Phillips, drummer Randy Guss, guitarist Todd Nichols and bassist/keyboardist Dean Dinning, all 25, basically practiced in each other's garages for something to do. Growing up in middle-class, milk-and-cookies suburban Santa Barbara, Toad The Wet Sprocket had no fiery beginnings. The 21-year-old Phillips, like his bandmates, remains remarkably unaffected in the midst of the hype, which included appearances on 'The Late Show With David Letterman,' 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' and the cancelled 'Dennis Miller Show' interviews on HBO's 'Entertainment News' and CNN's 'Showbiz Today,' and interviews for Spin and Musician magazines that will run this fall. So far, he's not in any immediate danger. 'I really don't want to end up like that.' 'Like Springsteen - all those people told him he was incredible, and it really wasn't him.

Toad the wet sprocket name